Keystone XL pipeline: TransCanada sends final offers to 100-plus Nebraska landowners

© Associated Press



A stake in the ground wrapped with tape that marks the route of the Keystone XL pipeline in Tilden, Nebraska, on March 17, 2014

Lincoln - As the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate pledged quick approval of the Keystone XL pipeline early next year, final offers were landing Tuesday in dozens of Nebraska mailboxes.

TransCanada Corp. said it mailed new offers of right-of-way payments this week to more than 100 Nebraska landowners who have refused to sign an easement contract.

The letters also say the company will pursue eminent domain against landowners who don't agree to terms by Jan. 16. The company says Nebraska law requires condemnation proceedings to start within two years of the state's approval of the pipeline route, which occurred Jan. 22, 2013.

"This really is an effort to reach voluntary agreements rather than going through the eminent domain process," said Andrew Craig of Omaha, Keystone's land manager. "We always prefer to go through negotiations."

The director of a leading pipeline opposition group said there are 115 landowner holdouts, and she expects them to refuse the latest offer. Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska also argued that the company lacks a legal basis to use eminent domain since the state's pipeline routing law has been declared unconstitutional and is under review by the Nebraska Supreme Court.

"This is not about money," Kleeb said. "This is about their family legacies, their land and protecting their water."

The state's highest court could rule on the pipeline case as early as Friday.

While landowners were opening envelopes Tuesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell was promising to put a Keystone XL bill at the top of the agenda when the Senate convenes in January. Passage of legislation approving the pipeline is likely in a Republican-controlled Senate, which could set up an early veto confrontation with President Barack Obama.

Congressional Republicans have been pushing for approval of the pipeline for years. Obama has resisted because of environmental concerns.

"We're optimistic we can pass it and put it on the president's desk," McConnell said

The $8 billion pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of heavy crude oil daily from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Environmentalists say the issue is a significant test of Obama's commitment to addressing climate change. Republicans and other supporters say the project would create jobs and promote energy security, reducing reliance on oil from the Middle East.

The Republican-led House has repeatedly passed legislation approving the pipeline. But the bills have died in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Last month, a bill fell one vote short of advancing in the Senate.

It could be a lively debate next year. McConnell promised to allow unlimited amendments, meaning that senators could try to force votes on all kinds of unrelated issues.

Such debates have become rare in the Senate in recent years. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., often uses parliamentary procedures to prevent amendments on most bills.

Meanwhile, TransCanada says it has reached land-use agreements with 84 percent of the more than 500 landowners along the 275-mile proposed route in Nebraska. Craig, the company's land manager, said he is hopeful the latest mailing will push the total above 90 percent.

The latest offers do not include the signing bonuses that were offered in past mailings, Craig said.

If the State Supreme Court sides with the landowners who successfully sued to strike down the pipeline routing law, the company will file a new application with the Nebraska Public Service Commission. The first route was authorized by the governor, which a lower court judge ruled was an unconstitutional delegation of power.

The Public Service Commission review could possibly require adjustments to the existing route. But TransCanada will argue that the route has been thoroughly vetted by state and federal environmental regulators.

By acting soon on eminent domain filings, the company will be poised to proceed if the Supreme Court rules in its favor, Craig said.

Kleeb, the pipeline opponent, said that if the project does go before the PSC, she and others will argue that the route must be moved because it still crosses sandy soils and a portion of the Ogallala Aquifer in northeast Nebraska.

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